Why I don’t use the term Ideal Customer Avatar (ICA)

Ideal Customer Avatar, or ICA, is a very common term, especially in the online marketing space. Or sometimes folks will talk about their “target market.”

I’m not a big fan of the term avatar or target market.

They are impersonal.

And that’s dangerous.

The moment you slap one of those labels on your customer you start to dehumanize the person you’re selling to. Then everything you create around that label — like your website copy and emails — gets dehumanized too, one small word at a time.

It’s a slippery slope to an Us vs Them scenario.

It separates you from your customer.

And that’s the opposite of the connection you’re trying to make.

This isn’t about me being the word police or calling anyone out. I’m not offended by these terms.

But I do think language matters — a lot.

So I very intentionally say Ideal Customer or sometimes Your People.

It’s a reminder to myself that the person I’m selling to is a living, breathing, human being, not a target or mythical creature “out there” somewhere.

My point is this:

The essence of Ideal Customer Discovery is that there’s a person on the other side of every piece of content we create, every offer we make, and every product we deliver.

The goal is to genuinely connect with that person.

There are no shortcuts to the kind of deep understanding I help people uncover through my Ideal Customer Discovery process.

But you can start today.

With small shifts from what to why.

By shifting away from the nitty-gritty details of what you sell and moving toward why your Ideal Customer wants what you’re selling.

That’s why I made this free resource for you 👉 10 Crazy Simple Hints to Attract your Ideal Customer with Ease.

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Denise Cornell is an Ideal Customer Expert. She helps entrepreneurs, business owners, and consultants boost sales by pinpointing exactly who they are selling to and why that person is buying.

She has over 25 years experience in tech startups and online marketing as an employee, consultant, co-founder, and company of one.

She’s learned that no matter the industry, the product, or the budget, the one thing critical to the bottom line is how well you know your customer. To sell more, you must develop a deep understanding of your customer.